The Las Cruces City Council acted on a wide variety of issues at its Monday, May 2, 2022, meeting in Council Chambers at City Hall, 700 N. Main St.
The Council approved a Resolution adopting the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Coronavirus State and Local Recovery Funds eligibility process and guide. To abide by the guidelines set forth by the U.S. Department of Treasury, a new ARPA Eligibility and Evaluation Guide has been created to move 21 applicants forward through the process and allocate funding based on the criteria established in that process.
The ARPA funds could be approved by City Council in August.
The ARPA funds are made available to the City to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency and its negative economic impacts. The Treasury Department has charged the City with ensuring projects respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency and meet urgent community needs.
A Resolution approving the full implementation of a decarbonization rate rider charge of 15 cents per dekatherm, at Year One as part of the phased-in increase of the natural gas rates was unanimously adopted by City Council. The decarbonization rate rider will be used to fund greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts by Las Cruces Utilities, such as the energy transition plan, emission reduction technologies, and energy efficiency projects.
The new rates are not expected to begin until an Emergency Commodity Recovery Surcharge has been completed this summer.
Additionally, City Council defeated a proposed Ordinance that would have amended the Las Cruces Municipal Code 1997, Chapter 16, to add Article XII “Cannabis,” Section 16-510. The section would have established hours of operation for cannabis retail businesses within the City.
City Council also approved the following agenda items at Monday’s meeting:
- A Resolution approving the 2022 Action Plan, as part of the City’s 2021 to 2025 Consolidated Plan. The Resolution authorizes City staff to submit the 2022 Action to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and incorporates necessary agreements with outside partnering agencies.
- A Resolution adopting $599,000 in funding priorities and allocations for 19 Las Cruces non-profit organizations for Fiscal Year 2023. The allocations will come from the City’s Telshor Facility Fund and will be used to provide health-related public services needs.
- City Council approved two Resolutions regarding RoadRUNNER Transit grant applications that will be submitted to the Federal Transit Administration. One Resolution authorizes the City to submit a grant application for as much as $5.8 million that could be used to acquire electric buses. The second Resolution authorizes the City to submit a grant application for as much as $3.1 million by May 31, 2022 that, if approved, would be used to construct a Maintenance and Operations Facility for RoadRUNNER Transit. The proposed facility would be built on City-owned land on Motel Blvd, next to the Las Cruces Utilities facility.
- City Council also adopted an Ordinance approving a planned unit development concept plan amendment updating and altering the boundaries of the Metro Verde and Metro Verde south planned unit developments, consolidating the two planned unit developments, and rezoning approximately 300 acres of land of various zoning designations to planned unit development. This amendment and consolidation will be called Metro Verde Planned Unit Development.
A review of Monday’s Las Cruces City Council meeting is available online at clctv.com or at YouTube.com/clctv20. Also, replays of Monday’s City Council meeting will be shown at various times this week on CLCTV, Comcast Cable channel 20, or in high definition at Comcast Cable channel 928.